THE RAIN is unrelenting here in West Oxford, but thank the gods for the badgers of Mill Street – they do their best to undermine the foundations of civilisation.
In other news, the Oxford Mail reports that travailliste councillor Susanna Pressel, who was a mayor of this little town er sorry city a while back, has scored a significant win against the forces of civilisation and has persuaded Network Rail, or whoever, to keep the west gate of Oxford Railway station operational.
The Oxford Mail reported it somewhat differently from the New Osney residents’ associations alert – which came on Wednesday. The newsletter said: “The official statement — after discussions late into the night last night:
‘We’ve decided in the light of customer and stakeholder feedback, and the emergence of a number of potential alternative approaches, to defer closure of the Oxford Platform 2 gate until further notice. In the meantime, we will be reviewing the usage of the gate and its interaction with the wider station environment. This will help inform the decisions that we’re making about access to this entrance in future. We will also be discussing the future access to the gate with the Department of Transport in the context of potential wider plans for the station.
Courtsey (surely curtsey) of Susanna Pressel City Councillor for Jericho and Osney Ward County Councillor for West Central Oxford Division.'”
Well, all power to Susanna’s elbow, but it is still hard to understand how the Oxford Mail waited two days before running the story, which also suggested, rather said, it was a coup the minute Susanna Pressel walked in. We suspect the OxMail is a paper tiger, while said Susanna Pressel is obviously a tigress. The paper quotes her as saying when she gets cross, she gets really cross. ♣
